Range and Habitat

Manx Shearwater: Summer breeder at coastlines and offshore islands in the UK and Ireland. Grounds include Western and Northern Isles, coasts of northwest Scotland, Wales, east and west Ireland and the Isle of Man. Visible during the summer and on spring and autumn passage. Winters in coastal South America.

SONGS AND CALLS

Voice Text

Generally silent, makes a variety of howls, coos, and screams on its nest.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Manx Shearwater got its common name because at one time it bred on the Calf of Man, a small island just south of the Isle of Man between Ireland and Great Britain.

Despite the scientific name, this species is completely unrelated to the puffins, the only resemblance being that they are both burrow-nesting seabirds.

They are very long-lived. A bird breeding on Copeland Island on 2003 was banded as an adult (at least 5 years old) in July 1953; it was retrapped in July 2003, making it at least 55 years old.

A group of shearwaters are collectively known as an "improbability" of shearwaters.

RELATED BIRDS

RANGE MAP

FAMILY DESCRIPTION

There are four families of seabirds in the PROCELLARIIFORMES (pronounced pro-sel-lehr-EYE-ih-FOR-meez), an order that includes the dainty storm-petrels, the huge albatrosses, and the shearwaters.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The shearwaters are in the Procellariidae (pronounced pro-sel-lar-EYE-ih-dee), a family composed of eighty-five species in fourteen genera that roam all oceans of the world (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

In European waters, twenty-one species of shearwaters in seven genera have been identified. Included among these are the thin-winged Pterodrama species of the deep waters such as the Fea’s Petrel, and the stocky, gull-like Northern Fulmar.

KNOWN FOR

Shearwaters are known for the prominent tube-like structures on their beaks that, as with all Procellariiformes, help remove excess sea water. Species such as the Sooty Shearwater are also known for their open water, low altitude gliding and tilting mode of flight on straight wings, the tips of which often slice or “shear" through the water’s surface.

PHYSICAL

Shearwaters are seabirds that are medium to large in size with elongated round bodies, medium length tails, long, pointed wings, and webbed feet adapted to their marine environment. Their bills are medium length, narrow, have a small hook on the tip, and have tubular structures on top.

COLORATION

This dull-coloured family is plumaged in dark browns, black, white, and grey. Some species such as the Sooty Shearwater are all dark with silvery wing linings, while others such as the Great Shearwater are dark above and light below. The Black-capped Petrel and related species have grey and white plumage with bold black markings on the head, back, and wings.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Shearwaters are encountered in deep, marine waters with the deepest waters beyond the continental shelf favoured by the petrels of the Pterodrama genus. They only occur on fresh water if blown inland by hurricanes, and on land are only likely to be encountered on cliffs and islets that are their breeding grounds.

MIGRATION

Some species undertake very long migrations from breeding areas in the Southern Hemisphere to the waters of the Northern Hemisphere.

HABITS

Shearwaters nest in colonies, and often occur in flocks when foraging. Fish, squid, crustaceans, and other food items are sometimes picked from the surface, but mostly obtained by diving into the water.

CONSERVATION

Populations of several species of shearwaters have been declining with subsequent listing as near-threatened or threatened; these declines likely linked to long-line fishing and global warming. Shearwaters are also easily threatened by disturbances at their breeding grounds. Factors such as these have caused such a large decline in already small populations of the Balearic Shearwater, that is has been listed as critically endangered.

INTERESTING FACTS

Shearwaters produce an oily substance in their stomachs that is fed to young and which can be vomited as a defence mechanism. Young birds high in fat and oil content are harvested by the Maori people in New Zealand where they are called, “muttonbirds".

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters
of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus)
and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante
(2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42
(Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported
by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990 s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and
expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html.
You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use
the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.